RE-IMAGINED RESIDENCY (3), 2019

ARTISTS WILLIAM FAIRBROTHER & ALBERTO RUIZ SOLER USE VIRTUAL REALITY TECHNOLOGY TO FOCUS ON SONIC AND TACTILE EXPERIENCES

Project: Re-Imagined Residency

Artists: William Fairbrother and Alberto Ruiz Soler

Year: 2019

Held and produced by Lighthouse.

Part of: Re-Imagine Europe

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“We used this residency to further our collaborative practice centered on modes of perception. This usually manifests in creating combined sensory experiences and in previous projects we had already begun looking at the relationship between sound and touch.

We expanded our investigation to think about sound and touch not just as experienced from a static/seated position, but to assemble a whole environment comprised of sonic and tactile elements where the participant plays an active role, moving their body through space as a controller in a time and manner of their choosing.

During the residency, we created a prototype centered on experiences of migration. In our research, we have been thinking about migration broadly as a journey towards a better place that is made by many different animals – including humans – motivated by various push and pull factors. These journeys can be challenging and emotionally and physically disruptive.

We focused on the act of a body moving through space from an origin to an ending (or a cyclical route through a space), passing through physical or sonic territories and obstacles along the way which may trigger bodily responses. We incorporated temperature, floor/wall textures as well as freestanding objects in the space to serve as obstacles or delineate different territories or areas to pass through or linger at.

All sound content in the space existed in a corresponding virtual model. Participants wore a pair of specially modified headphones that tracked their location in the space to access these sounds. This technology has enabled us to manipulate sound in a very playful and dynamic way and created new ways of experiencing sound otherwise impossible using speakers. For instance, we were able to create sudden thresholds between sounds and silences in the space and deliver different sounds to the participant according to their height.

As an experience that does not prioritize sight, we have been working from the outset to make it equal in quality for sighted and blind/visually impaired people alike."

– William & Alberto

William Fairbrother is a non-anthropocentric artist and researcher based in London. His works usually involve collaborations with other researchers / creative practitioners and are focussed towards the use of art as a tool to enable less human-centred points of view. He designs with hominins in mind, our closest evolutionary ancestors and non-humans related to us, and is currently concentrated on developing physical experiences that prioritise the subordinate senses over vision which dominates the art sector and media-centric world we live in today.

Website: www.williamfairbrother.co.uk
Instagram: @williamfairbrother

Alberto Ruiz Soler is a sound artist and composer researching how people perceive sound and categorise their sonic environment. He constructs listening experiences through contemporary dance, installations and generative art. He is part of internationally touring works with artists like Igor+Moreno, Lola Maury, Eva Recacha, Hannah Ringham & Glen Neath, Hetain Patel.

Website: www.albertoruizsoler.com
Instagram: @albertoruizsoler

William and Alberto's Research & Development Residency (Re-Imagined Residency) is part of Re-imagine Europe, co-funded by the Creative Europe programme of the European Union.